Totally didn't take possibility 1 into account...very likely given how much it rains in SL!

Possibility 3: Another -a more obscure- possibility of why Mpofu could come in to bat a bit higher:

Two or three seasons ago, the Bangalore pitch was swinging and seaming uncontrollably and on the 3rd day morning, the extremely low scoring Ranji trophy match was already into its 4th innings with Karnataka needing about 120 to win. With the score at 2/2 or something like that, Coach Arun Kumar and skipper Vinay Kumar thought it would be insane to lose more batsmen in the first hour and lose the match. It was next to impossible to score runs and it would have been a miracle to keep wickets in tact with the seam movement. With sun beating down, the pitch would definitely get better for batting by about 11 in the morning. The trick was to survive till then. So, as a masterstroke, they sent in bowler Abhimanyu Mithun who slogged around and scored some 20 odd important runs and got out. Another two batsmen lost and at around 40/5, skipper Vinay himself came out, used up a lot of deliveries and got out for around 15 or 20. With score at 70/6, proper batsman coming in to the crease, Manish Pandey, and keeper CM Gautham took Karnataka home under easier batting conditions!

Having said that, Zimbabwe trying out such tactical genius is next to impossible anyway.

Jemisi wrote:Nope. Sticking with what I said at the beginning, even if you've won Kriterion over.

Right, let me give a 4th possibility, the likeliest of all. That might help

There was a strike on the last day of the test match by the provincially contracted players without national contract as they had not received salaries for the last 6 months. They said no play till they were paid. Most of the younger lot who were part of this test match XI, like Burl, Musakanda, Mumba, Murray / TJS / Chapungu were some who were on the receiving end. They stood by their provincial counterparts. But as usual, the nationally contracted players did not stand shoulder to shoulder with the youngsters and they went ahead and took the field. This explain why Mpofu batted ahead of Murray / TJS / Chapungu. ZC managed to pay 3 months salary with some dodgy last minute deal with Stanbic Bank and informed the guys in the XI just in time for the greenhorn to take the field for the final over, with Mpofu already out there at the non-striker's end.

Given this situation, who cares whether the 8 runs were scored or not? The match was at Harare, the inaugural test for the Afghans, and you wouldn't want to know how it ended as a Zimbabwe fan.